I just got a little giant still air incubator I know it's not the best but as of rite now I'm only doing one hatch a year lol of chickens the a few ducks. Is there any tricks that will help I want to get the best hatch rate I can thanks
Here you are - good luck. And welcome to BYC https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601352/little-giant-incubator-tricks
I have an older model of Little Giant, with the fan installed. One thing I recommend, especially with the styro bators, is considering doing the dry incubation for the first 17 days. If my humidity stays above 25% w/o water in it, I run dry and monitor my egg's air cells. (I believe monitoring the egg's air cells and controlling humidity by that is important to better hatch rates.) If it's dry (winter and pellet stove dry) and it doesn't stay 25% w/o water, then I put just enough water t o try to hold it about 30%. I have an automatic egg turner, so I don't have to worry about that. If hand turning the more the better, but an odd number of times a day is best so they aren't staying on the same side every night. The biggest thing with the LG's is they need to be in a room with a stable temp and no drafts on the bator. They also need to be away from direct sunlight or lamps shining down on them. If you eliminate room temp flunctuations, it will greatly cut down on bator flunctuations. My bator holds pretty steady because it's in a room that stays fairly even temp wise. Something else I discovered, and it took me a while, is the temp change with humidity. I could get my bator set and steady for a couple days then it would slowly start to go up, so I would just barely tap it down then by the next day my humidity would be "low" so I'd add water...humidity goes up temp goes down. So I have finally figured out that when I have my temp set and it's holding good and I see that slight incline (when I am not running completly dry) to add just a bit of water instead of adjusting the heater. Always use more than one thermometer and never trust installed monitors unless they've been checked. Run forced air incubators at 99.5F and still air incubators at 101-102F (despite manufacture suggestions). I prefer 70-75% humidity at lockdown. I am in the "meddler" category. I don't have a hands off policy at lockdown. I will assist if I feel it is neccessary and I remove my chicks periodically through the hatch to put in the brooder. The higher humidity gives me the confidence that the probability of shrinking wrapping is low. That's all I can think of at the moment.
